Turn of the Tides
by Queen Vixen
Summary: Duo gets his hands on some wrong information, getting the other guys into some trouble only he can get them out of! Chapter Four Up!
1. I

            Thump! "Owwww!"

            "Duo! What in the world do you think you're doing?"

            "Um…would you believe testing the hardness of the desk with my head?"

            "No. Now don't fall asleep again!"

            " Yes ma'am." Duo rubbed the growing red spot on his forehead where the desk had jolted him into wakefulness. He grumbled to himself about surly math teachers who should just let sleepy students sleep. He situated himself in his seat and prepared to sink back into his blissful dream world, but the dull throb in his head quickly developed into a full-fledged headache and sleep seemed nearly impossible. Duo tried to concentrate on the logarithms the teacher was writing on the board, but, after having taken the same math class in four different schools, his mind didn't feel like logarithm reviews. So instead, his mind wandered to his upcoming mission. 

            Tonight he was supposed to break into an OZ base and listen in on an OZ leader meeting. Trowa was usually the one to do the espionage, but this base had some new fangled computer codes and Duo was the only stealthy code breaker. So he had to skip out before dinner and drive 20 miles to the base, which was out in the middle of God knows where. He didn't even get to blow anything up. This was certainly not his kind of mission. He wondered why they didn't just get Heero to do it. The codes couldn't be that hard and he was a pretty decent hacker. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'Guess I gotta pull my share of boring missions.'

            Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

            At the sound of the bell Duo leapt from his seat. "Don't forget to write down your homework!" the teacher shouted after him.

            'Yeah right. I've got way more important things on my mind!' he though. Just as he hopped out the door, another person walked right in front. He yelped as he collided with the person. They collapsed to the ground in a pile of arms and legs. Duo found himself looking at a very angry pair of Prussian blue eyes hidden behind hair that never looked brushed.

            "Yo Heero! What's up?" Duo smiled cheerfully down at the agitated Wing pilot.

            "Duo. Get off of me. NOW!" Duo leapt up as Heero prepared to beat the shit out of him. He quickly ducked behind a rather tall onlooker.

             "Now Heero, just, calm down! It was an accident! Trowa! Tell him!" Duo pleaded with his barricade.

            "Heero. Chill. He didn't do it on purpose. Plus," he whispered quietly, "he has something to do tonight." The anger quickly faded from the boy's face and his mask of indifference slipped back into place. He glared at Duo one more time and then turned around and stalked away. 

            "Woah. Talk about near death experiences. Thanks Trowa. What the hell is his problem? Spandex too tight?" Duo brushed himself off and tried to settle his nerves. Heero had been really upset. He had really wanted to beat the shit out of him. For an accident… 

            "He doesn't want you to go on the mission," Quatre said, slipping up behind him. He stared to gently push Duo toward his room. He and Quatre had become pretty close friends, and they talked a lot. They usually helped each other get ready for missions. Quatre had often confided in Duo his feelings about a certain tall, spiky haired pilot, and he and Duo had thought up ways for the shy Arabian to confront Trowa, but only once had Duo mentioned anything about his secret thoughts of the Perfect Soldier.

            "Say wha'?" How would Quatre know? He and Heero weren't exactly best buddies and Heero didn't share his thought with just anyone. Heero didn't share his thoughts with anyone period.

            "I overheard Heero talking to Doctor J. He doesn't think you'll be able to break in alone and that you will become a liability. Personally, I think he's worried about you," Quatre added with a smug little smile, which quickly vanished as his forehead wrinkled in worry. "To tell you the truth, so am I."

            "Oh come on, Q-man! I'll be fine! I've got this one covered! All I gotta do is do a little hacking and keep my ears open. I don't even need Deathsythe. This'll be a piece of cake." Duo smiled, hoping to quell his friend's fears, despite his own apprehensions. If Quatre admitted to Duo that he was worried, he must really mean it. And Quatre had never been wrong before….

            Duo shook off his doubts. There was a first time for everything, and that included Quatre being wrong. Plus, he didn't need any stray thoughts of worry distracting him from his goal.

            As they approached his door and Duo took out his room key, Quatre grabbed his arm, stopping him.

            "Just, please be careful. This new system is supposed to be very, very good and we're not quite sure exactly what it can do. So, watch your back." Quatre gave him a reassuring pat on the back as if to emphasize his last statement, then went into Duo's room and began getting out the weapons. 

            Duo followed him in, closing and locking the door behind him. It would be bad news in someone other than another pilot walked in while he was getting ready for a mission. He glanced around, taking the look of the small dorm room he shared with Heero. It wasn't exactly what you would call spacious. It had basically two beds, a nightstand (yes, only one), two dressers, and a desk. That was about it. There was a little window on the far side away from the door that was just big enough to fit a teenage boy/Gundam pilot. It was pretty dirty, with the wallpaper peeling and watermarks on the ceiling. The carpet was coming up in places, exposing the bare, unfinished wood floors beneath. 

            Duo walked up behind Quatre as he searched through their large assortment of handguns. Along with the basics, each pilot had their own personal weapon. Heero had one or two machine guns stashed beneath the floor boards that were exposed by the carpet, while Trowa had some of the daggers his friend used in the circus. Quatre had a machete given to him by the Maguanacs and Wufei had enough martial arts swords to make even the greatest collector jealous. He also happened to have a rather large bazooka, but none of the other pilots had ever asked him where he had gotten it. Duo had his own special set of lock picks he had made himself, plus his favorite gun, which he considered lucky and took on every mission. He threw both of these things into a black duffle bag, along with a few more guns and some ammunition Quatre had gotten out from underneath his mattress. He grabbed his extra lock picks and secured them firmly in his hair and attached a gun to his ankle holster. He slipped two knives into his hip sheaths and grabbed his shoulder holster from the desk drawer. He put that on, along with the two guns and threw over his black trench coat. He put his mini-computer in his bag and was ready to go.

            "Do you think this is a little much?" Duo asked as he surveyed himself in the full-length mirror on the back of the door. He thought he might be a little over-prepared.

            "You can never be too careful and we're not sure about the perimeter security. You may need every last bullet just to get in…or out of the base."

            Duo nodded. Quatre was right. No one was quite sure what the security was like where the computer couldn't cover. He might very well use everything. And if not, he could always stash what he didn't use and pick it up on the way out. If he got out…

            'Stop it!' he told himself. 'Everything will be just fine. I'll get in, get the information, and get out. And I'll show Heero that I can do the job just as well as he can. If not better,' he thought smugly. 

            He turned and smiled at Quatre. "Save me some dinner for when I get back, will ya? I'm gonna be starving!"

            "No problem. Just be sure you come back and eat it. Otherwise I've got dibs." Quatre smiled back at him, while his eyes tried miserably to hide his worry for his friend. He just had such a bad feeling about this mission. 

            Duo walked over to the window, throwing the latch that kept it locked while he and Heero were away. He stuck his legs out the window and looked back at Quatre. "Well, see ya in a few hours! And don't you dare eat my food!" He vaulted out the window and landed behind a bush. He looked up to see Quatre wave before closing the window. He made sure Quatre didn't lock it before setting off at a sprint for the woods behind the school. He had stashed his motorcycle there shortly after they came and now he unlocked the chain wrapped around the tree trunk. He didn't want anyone steeling his bike. He hung the helmet over the handlebars and walked it through the woods. He really wished these woods had bike trails, or even dirt paths. When he finally reached the road he secured his bag to the back, strapped on his helmet, and sped off down the highway with his braid flying out behind him like a kite tail. 

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            'Damn it! This security looks tough. I should probably wait here and pick off an officer as he's coming out,' Duo thought as he surveyed the ground around the base. Soldiers patrolled everywhere and none of them looked like the slack guys he was used to. His mind kept wandering to what Heero had said about him not being able to do it. He was beginning to agree. Night was coming soon and if he didn't get inside, the meeting would start without him.

He crept over to the entrance. He had to do this right. It was his mission. If he were caught, he would become a liability. He couldn't let that happen. He had to show Heero he could do it. He had to prove himself to him. He would be successful. Then he would rub it in Heero's face. 

            Just then a soldier walked through the gates into the woods. Probably going home to see the wife and kids. Duo had other plans for him. After he crossed into the shadows and out of sight of the guards, Duo slinked out of the bushes. He came up behind the man and banged him on the head with the butt of one of his guns. The man fell like a stone and Duo dragged him behind the bushes. He stripped of the man of his uniform and tied him to a tree. He made sure to gag the man, then put on his uniform. He put his clothes in his bag and stashed it behind a tree. He had made sure to grab his mini-computer, a few more guns, and his picks before putting his clothes in, and now he was ready. 

            'Okay,' he thought to himself. 'Just get in, plant the bugs, get the files, and get out. How hard could it be?'

             Duo casually strolled out of the woods. He looked like your typical OZ officer. Actually getting his uniform had taken long enough for the guards at the gate to be changed. 'Must change them every hour. I'll have to remember that.' Duo walked past the guards who admitted him with no questions asked. He walked around the base, nodding to some soldiers he passed, all the while looking for the conference room. He felt like he had searched the whole base before he finally found where the meeting would be held. "You think they would design these places all alike to cut down on confusion." Duo mumbled to himself while he looked around for places to plant his bugs. He looked around. He decided to plant one under each person's chair. He slit the fabric under each chair and slipped in a little microphone. These little things had been designed by the five scientists and really came in handy on missions. They would destruct at the push of a button, and if he waited till everyone was out of the room, no one would even know that he had been there. These bugs were powerful, too. They could pick up the sound of a pin dropping from twenty feet away. The chair cushion would be no obstacle. 

            After he had secured the chair bugs, he left. No good waiting around for them to show up. Too many things could go wrong. So he strolled down a corridor until he found a closet. All of the closets in OZ bases had air vents connecting to them so the janitors could clean the air ducts easily. Duo hoped that this base wasn't the exception. When he looked in the closet he found himself in luck. Not only was there an air vent, but a stepladder as well. He climbed the ladder and picked the lock on the vent. As he reached up to pull the grate down, he thought he felt a little electrical shock, but nothing happened afterward so he just passed it off for static electricity and hoisted himself into the shaft. It was relatively dark, but he followed the wall until he thought he was a safe distance inside. Then he got himself situated and popped out his mini computer. 

            The little computer had been a gift from Professor G. He had called it " the hacker's best friend." The computer could crack almost any code by itself and with it, Duo could break into just about anything he wanted to. He put the computer on his lap and turned it on. The tunnel was illuminated with it's harsh light and Duo began to type. He first took out the little hearing device that was connected with the bugs. He put that in his ear and turned on all of the bugs. The hearing device was connected with the computer and the whole conversation would be recorded and saved for later reviewing. Then he set about his other job.

            He was supposed to hack into the base's top-secret files. Word was they were planning the designs for a whole new mobile suit that was supposed to rival even the Gundams in power. They needed those plans to find a weakness to exploit. Without them, they just didn't know what to expect. He started working on bypassing the security without notice. Here was where the new security system would be a bitch. He set to typing furiously, hoping not to take too much time to break this, in case someone got suspicious. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, he was able to break the access codes. The little computer had gotten him in and he began his search.

At first he wasn't quite sure where to look. He took his time searching through the files. He didn't want to miss anything. He was still looking though the files. He didn't want to miss anything. He was still looking through files when he heard the sound of voices from the device in his ear. 'Good. I was wondering when this thing was going to start.' He glanced at the screen while half listening to the meeting. A file suddenly caught his eye. It was in some of the personal files of Trieze, labeled "Gemini." "Woah. What is it with these guys and their damn astrological signs?" Duo muttered to himself as he opened the file. The one had a lock on it too. He muttered about stupid OZ people and their paranoia about people hacking their files as he proceeded to break the code. This code was even harder than the last one, taking up almost twice the amount of time as the last one. He was finally able to get in, now having access to all of Trieze's private files. He opened Gemini, glancing over the file as he did. What he saw almost took his breath away. The mobile suit model in front of him was almost perfect. It had the same shields as the Virgo, only with about 3 more, and the laser rifle was about 3 times stronger.

"Woah." Duo looked at the plans, amazement gleaming in his eyes. He had to find a weakness. He just had to. Otherwise, the Gundams were pretty much guaranteed scrap metal. Duo scoured the plans, desperately hoping to locate anything that the pilots would be able to exploit. He searched every plan, every angle of the mobile suit, inside and out. Finally, after about twenty minutes, he found what he was looking for. It was small, but it at least gave the pilots a fighting chance. The designers of the suit had made it so electronically advanced up in the cockpit area, there had been no room for the self-destruct module. Therefore they had seen fit to slip it into the upper left leg of the machine, just behind the knee. If a Gundam could hit the spot, instant bonfire. It was just the type of thing he was looking for. He couldn't wait until the other guys saw this. He was just about to save the files, when he suddenly heard the meeting going on in the conference room take an interesting turn.

"So, how do you plan on taking down the Gundams, Colonel Treize?" a rather nasally voice said. 

"You see, it's not so much a matter of destruction as it is a matter of capture. We could learn a lot from those pilots and their machines. Given time, we may even be able to convince them to join us," Treize said in his silky smooth voice.

'Yeah right. Like we would ever work for OZ,' Duo thought bitterly as he listened to the other officers talk amongst themselves. They weren't quite sure what to make of Treize. He was an up and coming figure, the leader of the elite Specials group. The older members of the meeting were rather resentful of the Colonel's new methods and were constantly looking for any way to discredit him. 

"Well, you still need a plan, so what do you intend to do?" The officers all sat patiently, waiting for the suave man to grace them with a response. 

"It's simple. All we need is one. If we capture one pilot, the rest will come to either rescue him or silence him. And I believe that we already have a Gundam pilot in this very base listening to our conversation and tapping into our files right now." 

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            Duo's blood ran cold. How could they have known about him? Where had he messed up? His mind ran back over the last couple of hours. Had they found the guy in the woods? Had someone leaked information? It was then that it struck him. The new security system. The damned new security system. How could he have been so stupid? He thought back and remembered the little shock he had gotten from the vent gate. 'Great. That must have set off a MAJOR alarm.'

            He took some deep breaths to calm down. He had fucked up and fucked up real bad. But he still had a mission to complete. He had to keep his cool. He was a Gundam pilot. He could get out of this. 'And if not,' he thought, 'a few strategically placed bombs could blow us all sky high.' He grabbed the back up disk he had made of the files and shoved it into his pocket. He turned off the computer and closed it. He stuffed it into his shirt as quickly as he could. 

            Silence was not a real big issue now as he worked his way down the vent, but he didn't want the entire base to know he was there just yet, so he shuffled as quickly as he dared. When he reached the vent opening, his breath caught in his throat. He heard muffled sounds coming from outside the closet door. 'OZ troops,' he thought. So they were already watching the door. Well, he wouldn't go down without a fight. He grabbed a gun and removed the clip. He quietly opened the vent hatch before chucking the empty pistol at the door. It hit with a loud 'thud', and fell to the floor.

            "Shhh!" came a voice from outside. "Did you hear something?"

            "Yeah. Sounded liked someone kicking the door. I think our little friend has finally come down for a visit." The soldier reached out and grabbed the door handle. He jerked the door open with a pull, guns ready to fire at the first sign of resistance.

            Duo almost laughed out loud when he saw the looks on the soldiers' faces. They went from smug triumph, to utter confusion to even more confusion when the found the gun. They both walked into the closet, putting their own guns back in the holsters. They picked up Duo's gun and were just about to ask each other what the hell was going on when Duo burst out of the grate feet first and slammed them both in the head, knocking them into the shelves lining the walls, spilling cleaning material everywhere. Duo landed next to the two prone figures, grabbing their guns and replacing the clip in his.

            Duo mad sure to secure the soldiers before locking the door with their key and snapping it off in the lock. 'That should hold them for a while,' he thought as he walked down the hall, guns at the ready. He knew that a whole group of OZ soldiers was probably hot on his tail, but he tried to blend in, and not look too obvious. He hadn't been able to hide his braid in the rush to get out of the closet however, and now it swung conspicuously behind him as he walked.

            Just a he turned a corner Duo heard sounds behind him. He thought he heard footsteps coming down the hall. A lot of footsteps. 

            "Look! There he is! The one with the hair!" a soldier shouted after him. Duo took off at a dead run as the soldiers started shooting at him. He had almost made it around the corner at the end of the hall when the first bullet hit. It buried itself deep in his left shoulder, causing him to drop on of the guns he was holding. The pain caused him to slow down a little before he was able to block it out, but that gave the soldiers enough time to get a little bit of a gain on him. Another bullet whizzed by his right side, slightly nicking his thigh. More bullets flew by as the rest of the guards rounded the corner. 'Lucky for me these guys are such awful shots while running,' Duo thought as he sped ever closer to the exit. 

            By now pretty much the whole base knew he was there and those that weren't hunting him down like a convicted criminal were out of the halls, making it pretty easy going. He managed to fire a couple of backward shots before a bullet knocked the gun from his hand, cutting his fingers in the process. 'Damn,' he thought. 'That was either a really great shot, or pure dumb luck.'

            He finally spotted the exit in front of him. He ran outside, only to find that the gate had been closed and bolted. His mind was racing. He had to get out of this base…but how? He looked around and as luck would have it, and OZ truck was sitting by the side of the building. Sure it had two OZ officers in it, but at the moment, Duo thought he would rather face those two than the twenty behind him. He ran over to the truck, guns flailing. The officers, terrified out of their wits, leapt from the truck. Duo slid behind the wheel and started the car. He punched it into drive just as the soldiers flew out of the door. They started firing at the car. One bullet h it the windshield, shattering it and causing glass to go everywhere, including a big piece that hacked up Duo's left thigh. His face was covered with little scratches and he could feel the blood running down his cheek. He rammed forward, straight into the soldiers, running over several in the process. He swerved left, ramming into the gate, it bent, but not enough, so be smashed the car into reverse, running over even more soldiers behind him. He backed up enough to allow the car to build up a good speed, and then drove straight at the gate as fast as he could, pushing straight through it and out of the base. For some odd reason, the soldiers he hadn't mowed down with the truck stayed inside the base, helping the others instead of giving chase, allowing him to get away. It was kind of unnerving, but Duo didn't really want to think about that just now. He stopped off to grab his bag, and thought about untying the soldier he had strapped to the tree, but decided that since he was pressed for time, he'd just ungag him. 'They'll find him eventually,' he decided.

            Duo made his way to the truck, limping badly from pain, throwing the bag into the back and wincing as the pain in his shoulder came speeding back. He couldn't tell how much blood he'd lost, due to the black clothing, but his shirt was feeling sticky all up and down the left side, a sign he knew couldn't be good. He slid behind the steering wheel of the truck just as a wave of dizziness overtook him. 'Just concentrate on driving,' he told himself. 'The school isn't that far away.' He headed for the highway, hoping beyond hope that he could reach the school without blacking out. 


	2. II

** Well, here's the second chapter of my premiere fanfic Turn of the Tides!!! ((Crickets chirp)) Well…I'm happy about it. I kinda put the last chapter up in a hurry and forgot to put a disclaimer, so here I go.**

**Disclaimer** 

Eeeep. Almost none of the characters in this story are mine. The only ones that are mine are the ones you've NEVER heard of. So please don't sue me. All you would get is an empty cookie box and a very upset cat that I haven't paid much attention to lately. 

Now that that's out of the way, I think you should go read! I've worked very hard on it! Go!!

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            Heero awoke as he heard someone sliding the window open to the dorm room he shared with Duo. He reached underneath his pillow and pulled out one of the guns he kept by him at all times. He looked toward the window, hoping it was his roommate. He should have been back over an hour ago. He would never admit it to anyone, but he was getting a little nervous. He relaxed a little when he saw Duo's face in the open window. He flicked on the light next to his bed and all his worry came rushing back.

            Duo crawled through the window, falling on the floor as he did, and let out a moan. He lifted his head and Heero could see that he was deathly pale. He saw the scratches on his face and the dried blood that had run down one cheek. He tumbled out of bed, grabbing the first aid kit from under the nightstand, went to Duo and tried to get him up onto his own bed. He grabbed Duo's left arm and tired to lift him, letting go immediately as Duo hissed in pain. He may have been injured, but he still understood the need for silence. When Heero drew away his hand, he saw that it was covered in blood.

            "Where is it?" he asked Duo as he glanced over him.

            "Back…. of shoulder…. bullet," he managed to gasp out. 

            "How long ago, and is there anything else?" Heero looked down at his roommate, seeing how pale the young boy was. 'Damnit,' he thought. 'I knew they shouldn't have sent him. I knew something was going to go wrong.'

            "About 45 minutes ago," Duo said. His voice was getting weaker and he was beginning to feel very tired. "Glass cut in right thigh, but only bleeding sluggishly now." He was in so much pain. But he knew that he couldn't shout out. Not only would it wake someone up, it would make Heero think he couldn't handle it. He couldn't do that. 

            Heero scooped him up and laid him face down on his bed. He ripped off Duo's shirt from the back and took a look at the wound. The bullet had been high enough to not hit anything vital. It had gone through some muscle, but had managed tot avoid the collarbone. This was too much for Heero. He could set bones and patch up scratches fine, but this was way beyond him. He glanced down at Duo as he lay on the bed. He didn't really want to leave him, afraid of what might happen while he was gone.

            "Duo, I have to go get Quatre. He's better with bullet wounds than I am. Stay here and don't move. I'll be back with him as soon as I can."   
            "Don't you worry, Hee-chan. I ain't going nowhere." Duo breathed out his response in his weakening voice. He didn't really want Heero to leave, but he understood that Quatre was the one he needed. He tried to give Heero a little smile, and was surprised by the look on his face. He almost looked…worried? 'Nah,' he thought. 'Not Heero. Probably just angry that I woke him up.' 

            Heero left the room, quietly making his way down the hall. When he came to Quatre and Trowa's room, he gently knocked on the door. There was no answer so he knocked a little louder. They weren't supposed to be out of their rooms, and he didn't really want to explain all the blood on his hands and clothes to anyone other than the other pilots. He was just about to knock a third time when the door opened and Quatre poked his blonde head out, looking sleepily up at Heero.

            "Heero? What time is it?" Quatre asked as he glanced down at his wrist. "Is there anything wrong?"

            "It's about midnight. Quatre, I need your help. Duo just got back, and…" that was as far as Heero got. At the mention of Duo's name the sleep quickly fled from Quatre's eyes and he rushed back inside. Heero heard him mumble something to Trowa, who quickly got out of bed and turned on the light. Quatre grabbed his own first aid kit from their closet, along with some special materials he had himself. 

            "How bad is it?" he asked Heero as the two of them went back down to Duo and Heero's room.

            It's not as bad as it could be. The main thing is a bullet wound in the left shoulder. There is also a rather large gash in the right thigh, but I don't know what that is from." Heero let Quatre into the room and flicked on the overhead lights, the light giving Duo a pale glow. 

            Quatre ran over to him, doing a quick check over his friend before settling down by the side of the bed.

            "Hey Quatre," Duo breathed out. "Save me my dinner?" He chuckled slightly, and started off a fit of coughing.

            "Well, you can't be that bad off if you can still make jokes." Quatre go out his medical kit and rummaged through it for some painkillers. "Um….Duo?" Quatre said in a very sympathetic voice.

            "What now?" He wheezed. He was very pale. He had a smile on his face, but he was scared. Quatre could see it in his eyes.

            "I don't have any painkillers besides Tylenol, and I seriously doubt that would work for what I'm about to do."

            "Shit." Duo's whole heart sank. He knew that this was going to be bad. Way worse than whatever pain he was in now. "All right, just do it." He buried his head into his pillow and gripped the sheets with his right hand.

            Quatre took out some forceps (especially designed for bullet retrieval) and inserted them into Duo's shoulder. Duo held the pillow up to his face, hoping to muffle any sound that might escape his lips. He clutched the sheets so hard that he left marks on the palm of his hand through them. Quatre finally found the bullet and pulled it out gently. Duo relaxed his grip a little and let out a long sigh. 

            "There," said Quatre. "That's the worst one." He placed a bandage over the wound and started inspecting all the other cuts and scrapes. He took a look at Duo's face making sure there weren't any big permanent things people would question. 

            "Am I still a good looking stud muffin?" Duo asked Quatre with a lopsided smile. He heard Heero snort from the foot of the bed and Quatre let out a little laugh.

            "I'm pretty sure the ladies will still swarm you." Quatre stopped inspecting Duo and turned to  Heero. "Make sure he sleeps most of the day tomorrow. He doesn't have a concussion, so you don't have to worry about waking him up every hour. See if you can get him to eat something tomorrow. Oh, and…"

            "Quatre, calm down. He'll be fine. Go back to bed. I'll take care of his leg." Heero guided the worried blonde toward the door. 

            "Just…be nice. Don't yell at him. It's probably not his fault." Quatre knew that Heero could be very temperamental at times and didn't want him giving Duo another bullet hole after he just patched up the first one. He allowed himself to be pushed out the door.

            "I will not yell. I will ask him what happened and if he got the files. I would also like to know what he managed to get out of the conversation."

            "But do it nicely!" Quatre said as Heero closed the door gently. Quatre was right to be anxious. Now that Heero knew Duo would be okay, he was fuming at the fact that he'd gotten caught. 'He should have been more careful.' He was also rather angry with himself. He knew something was going to go wrong. He just knew it. He should have been more forceful and have persuaded Dr. J to let him go instead. They he would be the one laying face down on the bed. 

            He went over to his partner and bandaged up the gash in his leg. He was putting away his supplies when Duo opened his eyes.

            "Ne, Heero. I gotta give you something." He used his right hand to gently reach into his pocket. He pulled out a little black disk. "At least I managed to do something right." He gave Heero a lop-sided grin. "That's got new mecha data and the meeting sound files." He rolled back over and fell into a deep sleep. 

            Heero just starred at the disk in his hand. He hadn't actually thought Duo had completed the mission. He stood up and walked over to his computer, still in a slight daze. 'Well, I guess I better look at this now while I have a moment of peace,' Heero thought, trying to banish the image of the wounded Duo fighting through hordes of OZ soldiers to get the data back successfully to his partner, just so he could complete the mission. 'It should have been me,' Heero thought, one last time before he flicked on his laptop, the glowing screen slightly illuminating the dark room, casting a pale flow on the sleeping pilot. Heero pulled out his desk chair, the legs scraping lightly over the floor as he sat down and began to get at the information his partner had almost died for. 

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            The next day, Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei were all seated in various places around the room. Quatre was on the foot of Duo's bed, being sure not to block the injured boy's view of Heero as he presented them all the information from Duo's disk. Wufei was seated in a chair cross-legged near the window, onyx eyes starring intently at Heero's face. Trowa was sitting on the floor; his back placed up against Duo's bed. Quatre was nervously playing with Trowa's hair as Heero talked. He was mainly concentrating on the data on the new mecha OZ called Gemini. 

            "They have the shields like Virgos," Heero pointed out on the wall where the picture was shown through the mini-projector, "but more of them. They also are made of a new synthetic metal called alotanium, which is being manufactured on the moon and is said to rival gundanium in strength." Heero let out a sigh. "Unfortunately, since Treize knew Duo was there, chances are that the recorded conversation is useless. He would not have knowingly divulged anything to us like that." Heero glanced up to see Duo hanging his head. He made a mental note to have Quatre talk to him later. 

            "But if we know the meeting is wrong, what's to say the files themselves are not also fake?" Wufei's eyes flashed at Heero, searching for an answer.

            "Well," Heero glanced around the room as he ran his fingers through his spiky bangs, "we don't know if they're real or not, but right now we have nothing else to go on. We will just have to be ready in case we're up against something completely different."

            "So when exactly are we going to meet these things and how long will we have to prepare?" Trowa, ever the logical thinker, asked.

            Heero stared at them all, his eyes very deep and serious. "I don't know. You must prepare tonight, but I do not know when the message will come. We'll just have to wait."

            Everyone nodded, understating that it was not up to them when they had to leave. They all had thought racing through their heads. Heero was calculating plans for an attack on the moon base already. Duo was wondering if he was going to be well enough to fight when the time came. He hated sitting out on missions. Trowa was running through all of the OZ bases he had infiltrated, thinking about the usual layouts and capacities. Quatre's head was filled with thoughts of the new mobile suit. He wanted to know how much power it actually had, and if he and his friends would be able to defeat a base full of them. He hoped everyone would be all right. Wufei's thought troubled him. Treize was at the base. Would he get the opportunity to fight him again? Would he ever defeat him? He hated thought like these. They made him feel weak. He had yet to regain his honor, but that was not what his missions were about. He was weak to think of his own personal problems. 

            After several minutes of silence, Duo finally spoke up. "Well, if we don't know when the mission is coming, guess there's no use worrying about it now. He smiled as he glanced over at the big digital clock on his bedside table. "Hey, it's 6:00. Dinnertime!" Duo put on a big grin just as his stomach let out a loud rumble. Someone had spread the rumor that Duo had dislocated his shoulder in a car crash, which would help explain why he wore a sling to classes, but they still weren't up to taking any unnecessary risks. Quatre had volunteered to bring Duo up breakfast and lunch, but Heero had to cover dinner. He glanced at Duo, who was looking at him with the biggest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen.

            "Fine," Heero growled as he turned off the projector. "I'm going." Duo let out a cheer as the other pilots removed themselves from their current positions. They said goodbye to Duo in their various ways, with Quatre slipping in a very reassuring hug, and left to get their meals.

            "Remember Heero! Don't be stingy!" Duo called after his friend as he closed the door. "And you know what I like!"

            Heero swore to himself under his breath about stupid pilots who made themselves dependent on others as he closed and locked the door behind him. It was going to be a long recovery.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            "Duo, wake up! Wake up! We have to talk now!" Someone was lightly shaking him. He mumbled something to the effect of "5 more minutes, mom" but the person persisted. Finally he cracked one eye, glaring at the person who had so rudely awakened him during his dread. He had been dreaming of himself, with Heero, a bottle of whipped cream, and some cherries. Enough said. His gaze fell upon the very same eyes he had just been picturing, except this time they looked annoyed, not lustful.

            "What do ya want? I was sleeping!" Duo whined as he buried his head back into the pillow.

            "I could tell," snorted Heero as he pulled the pillow out from under Duo. "You can go back to sleep in a minute. I just have to fill you in on what's going on." Duo dragged himself up and leaned against the headboard, putting most of his weigh on his right side. 

            "This had better be important," Duo yawned. "I was having a great dream." He reached behind himself and moved the pillow he was leaning on. 

            "This is no joking matter, Duo," Heero said in a gruff voice with a bit of an edge to it. He was rather upset himself about being dragged out of his bed at 2 am. He had been having a wonderful dream including himself, Duo, a pair of handcuff, and a riding crop. He had definitely wanted to finish that dream. "It's about the mission. We have been given orders."

            The sleep suddenly fled from Duo's eyes. It had only been two days. Only two days. "Did they say who was going?"

            Heero looked at Duo, knowing the look of realization in his eyes. He hardened his face, not wanting Duo to see that he was as upset about the timing as he was. "You're staying here. I'm going, along with Quatre and Trowa. Wufei will stay with you. We're leaving tomorrow at 6 AM and should very early the next morning."

            Duo was crushed. He hated sitting out on missions, but he had really wanted to go on this one, since he had so badly botched up the reconnaissance. "Why is Wufei staying? Why not Quatre? Sandrock won't be as useful as Altlong would be, right?"  
            Heero shook his head. He was not quite sure about this himself. Wufei's gundam had more destructive power than Quatre's, but he was not one to question orders. "Because they said so." Heero stood up, deciding this conversation was over. "Now go to sleep. I have to get up in about 2 hours to get ready, so don't stay up."

            Duo rolled over in his bed, making sure he wasn't lying on his bad shoulder, and pulled the covers up tight. He glanced at his digital clock as the numbers glowed brightly in the darkness of the room. 2:17. It was going to be a long night. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Wufei sat on his bed cross-legged. His hands were draped over his knees and he was deep in mediation. He was searching himself. He wanted to find the real reason he was not on the mission. Why had he refused to accept it? Why did he send Quatre in his place, a person with less fighting ability and less offensive weapons? He was so weak. Was all of this really because he was too afraid to face him? Too afraid to lose again?

            'Why?' he thought to himself as he came out of his meditation. He got off the bed, too upset to continue his morning exercises. Not only were they sending Quatre in his place, they were making him stay there and look after the injured Duo. He was not a nursemaid. 'But you're not a gundam pilot either. They are nowhere near as pathetic as you.'

            Wufei grabbed his head, growling at the nagging thoughts of self-doubt that constantly plagued him. He wished he didn't have his overdeveloped sense of justice. It would make his life so much easier. He grabbed his jacked from the hook on the back of the door. He needed a walk. Students weren't allowed out in the halls before 6 AM, so Wufei went over to the window. He opened it slowly, letting the cool night air waft over him. He stuck his head out the window and glanced around, making sure there were no random administrators out and about. Once he was sure it was clear, he propped the window open with a random textbook and slipped out, dropping to the ground as gracefully as a cat. 

            He stood under the window for a few minutes, just relishing in the calmness of the night. He loved how quiet and clear everything was. He sniffed the night air, smelling the scent of the new flowers. He stepped through the bushes and away from the wall, onto the sidewalk that surrounded the school. He started walking, heading for the woods. He liked walking through the woods, away from all the lights from the school and the hustle and bustle of the city. That was on thing he really loved about earth. There were just so many placed you could escape to. That was not a prominent thing that had been incorporated into the designs of the colonies. 

            Wufei reached the woods and passed underneath the protective covering of the trees. He walked, glancing down at his feet, watching himself step on twigs and sticks, breaking them in half effortlessly. Everything in the world was so fragile. All of life was fragile. His mind flashed to a picture of Duo, bandaged up and lying in his bed, unable to go on the recent mission due to the fragileness of his own life. It was all so wrong. Life shouldn't be so fragile. He just wished that he could make everything as strong as he wanted to be. If only…

            He continued to walk deeper into the woods, so submerged in his own thoughts, he was not aware that he was not the only one unable to sleep that night and out taking an early morning stroll. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Duo glanced up, breaking his train of thought, when he thought he was someone walking down the little path he was heading towards. He stopped for a moment, thinking maybe a rogue teacher was out and about, but after he didn't see anything for a few seconds, he figured he was okay. He looked back towards the school, thinking about how stupid he was being. They had all had to sit out on their share of missions due to injury. Why was it bothering him so much? 'Because you got caught,' the voice said. 'Because they have to go clean up your mess and they probably don't even have the right information.' Duo hated that voice. He hated it because he knew it was right and there was nothing he could do about it. What if the guys got hurt? Or worse, captured? What was he going to do? He didn't know what was going to happen, and that scared him. 

            He passed under the cover of the trees, still thinking about Heero and the others. He was also thinking about Wufei. Why wasn't he going on the mission? Everyone knew that Altlong was more powerful than Sandrock, even Quatre admitted it. This was weird. Worse than that, it was dangerous. What if Sandrock got ambushed? Duo wasn't sure Quatre would be able to fight his way through a horde of those new mobile suits. Why did Wufei have to pick now as the time to have a break down? 

            Duo stumbled on an upturned tree root, cursing under his breath. All of the sudden he was very aware of someone watching him. He glanced around, not seeing anyone. "Okay," he said in a voice that had sounded a lot stronger in his head. "I know you're out there. I don't like being followed, so come out now and I won't have to shoot you." Duo glanced around. He didn't actually have a gun with him, but he was hoping the other person didn't know that. 

            "You shouldn't threaten to shoot someone if you don't even have a gun." Duo turned toward the voice and found himself starring into a pair of deep onyx eyes. Duo leapt back, startled by the stealth Wufei had used to sneak up on him.

            "Yo, Wu! What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack? What are you doing out here this early in the morning?"

            "I could ask you the same thing. Aren't you supposed to stay in the room when not in class?" Wufei's eyes burned into Duo. 

            "Couldn't sleep. Heero was moving around too much, getting ready for the mission." Duo turned his head, but it was unnecessary. Wufei heard the bitterness in his words. "What about you?" Duo asked, glancing back at Wufei. "Why are you out?"

            "Couldn't sleep either. Needed to get some space to think." He didn't have to say what he needed to think about. Both he and Duo knew: the mission. "We should probably get back," Wufei said. "Teachers are going to be waking up soon." Duo nodded and both boys made the trek back to the school in silence. 

            Wufei helped Duo in through his window since they figured teachers would be waking up and it would be too risky for Duo to walk around to his own room on the other side of the school. He left Wufei's room with a nod of thanks and glanced around. No one in the halls. He made his way over to his door, pulling the key from his picked. He unlocked the door and stepped in and was greeted by the black emptiness of the room. Heero had left. Duo glanced at his watch, the glowing digital numbers reading 5:32. 'Right on time,' Duo thought. Now came the hard part. The waiting. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Well, the second chapter is done. Yay! Sorry about the incredibly long wait. There were some problems. First I lost the notebook I'm writing it in. Then I found the notebook, but I lost the disk it was saved on. So I had to re-type the entire thing. -_-;; So, needless to say I've been rather irritated. But it's here and I'm already working on the third chapter, which should be up within the next month (fingers crossed). Bye till then!

~Queen Vixen


	3. III

            Yay! More updating! ^_^ Okay. You can thank my creative writing teacher for this chapter. We get almost a whole hour and a half to write!! *swoons* I'm in heaven. Anywho…this means that all the chapters should start coming at much more regular intervals now. So fear no more! There shall be no more 3 month long waits! Now, onto the story!! ^_^ 

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            "Behind you, Trowa!" Heero heard Quatre gasp out over the intercom. They were in dire straits. Had it really only been six hours since Heero had last seen Duo slipping out of the window? It had. But it felt like six years. Everything had seemed to be going fine until the first wave of mobile suits hit. They had paired up, using the combined shields as a barrier and just started firing. The Gundam pilots had tried to return fire, but it bounced right off the shields. Then they had decided to try and beat them up close. Heero had managed to knock down some shields and had one cornered. He went for the back of the knee, wondering if it was going to work. The beam saber had hit the knee, buckling the mobile suit, but causing no explosion. The files had been fakes. Heero had jammed his sword into the back of the suit's neck in frustration and suddenly it had begun to glow and without warning the mobile suit had exploded in a burst of orange fire. The explosion had knocked Wing Zero back a little, but there had been no serious damage. 

            "Quatre, Trowa! Heero here!"

            "Heero, what was that explosion? You okay?" Heero could hear the concern in Quatre's voice. 

            "I'm fine. Listen, don't go for the back of the knee. Bad information. Go for the back of the neck. Takes them out with one hit." The pilots had confirmed the information by adding two more flaming mobile suits to their count. Things had started to look up. They might just win after all. But then everything had taken a nosedive. 

            Apparently the other mobile suit pilots didn't like the idea of being blown up. They went right back to the pairs, not letting the other pilots get in between them. 'If only we had Deathsythe or Altlong,' Heero thought. They needed a gundam with a long reach weapon such as the scythe or trident. They needed to knock those shields away and Quatre's glaives weren't cutting it. 

            "Trowa!" Heero heard Quatre's shout before he saw the reason for it, but it was already too late. In a desperate attempt to take down a Gundam, and injured pilot had latched onto Heavyarms, pinning down the blade Trowa used as a backup. They then self-detonated, taking Trowa down with them. Heavyarms was lurched forward, the left leg torn off at the knee, and fell to the ground. It didn't get back up again.

            "Trowa! Trowa, are you okay?" Quatre sounded nearly hysterical. Trowa had to be alive. He just had to be.

            "I'm here Quatre. I'm okay. Main controls aren't working. Left leg malfunctioning. I don't think Heavyarms will be walking off this battlefield."

            "Can you get out?" Heero asked. He didn't want Trowa staying on the battlefield. It would be too dangerous. 

            "If someone could possibly roll me over, then I could open the door. Otherwise, looks like I'll be leaving when you do."

            Heero cursed to himself. This was bad. Trowa was down. Quatre and Heero had both sustained damage, and the mobile suits just kept coming. Glancing around, Heero just barely had time to shout a warning when three laser blasts all pelted Sandrock. Quatre was down. Heero raised his buster rifle as the mobile suits closed in. If he was going to go down, at least he would go fighting. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

            Duo was in bad shape. He was worried to death. He had been waiting around all day in a total daze, running all the possible outcomes of the mission through his head. The good outcomes never stayed with him long. They were muscled out of the way by the ones ending with Wing Zero in a flaming ball of scrap metal. He really didn't like that one. Finally, he just decided he was going to be done worrying about it. 

            He ambled into the cafeteria, intent on getting food and not making direct eye contact with any of his classmates. I was his first time eating lunch outside of his room since the "accident" and people might get curious. Making his way through the line, he settled on a bowl of rice and a soda. He was too nervous to be hungry. He glanced around the room, spotting Wufei at a table, and made his way over. Pulling out a chair, he plopped himself into one of the empty seats. Wufei gave him a look of indignation, like he'd just intruded on a private party. He smiled at Wufei across the table, eliciting a grunt from him as he turned his attentions back to his food. 

            Duo decided that he didn't feel like prying a conversation from Wufei's lips, and instead concentrated on eating his lunch. He poked at the rice with a chopstick, wondering if Heero and the others would be there to eat lunch with him tomorrow. He glanced down at his watch, noting that it was now 12:30. He'd have to be back in class in half an hour. He looked around the cafeteria at all the boys and girls, sitting around talking. Their biggest worry was probably about an upcoming math test. How he wished that were his biggest problem. But no. His biggest worry was that enemy mobile suits might blow up his best friends. 

            "Excuse me, boys and girls," the intercom system rasped throughout the lunchroom. 

            'Great,' thought Duo. 'Just what we need. Old man ramblings.' Duo went back to trying to eat as the principal continued. 

            We have just received word that a little over four hours ago, a base about 40 miles from here was attacked by Gundam 01, Gundam 03, and Gundam 04." Duo's head snapped up, his eyes locking with Wufei's. They starred at each other, both ready to bolt incase it turned out their cover was blown.

            'Act natural,' Duo thought. 'Just act natural. We're in a school full of kids whose parents are OZ soldiers. Don't do anything unusual.' He tried to breath in long, full breaths but they ended up sounding like hiccups as the principal continued. 

            "The battled continued on with very few casualties and at approximately 11:30, Gundam 03 fell with massive damage." A cheer went up around the room as Duo squeezed his chopstick so hard it broke in half. 

            "A few minutes later Gundam 04 went down, taken out by several simultaneous laser beam hits." Another cheer, another chopstick. "Finally, Gundam 01 was ambushed by mobile suits, causing it to fall under a barrage of close range fire." The cheer this time was immense, and Duo's ears rang as black spots danced across his vision. But it wasn't over yet.

            "After the attack, the Gundams were secured and the pilots were captured with only minor injuries. They will be held for questioning and then executed."

            "FUCK!" Duo shouted, forgetting his surroundings completely. Heads turned and stared at him, wondering why he would say something like that. Wufei's eyes had a murderous look in them and Duo wished he could sink into the floor.

            "I…mean…uh…shit! They didn't get the other two!" Duo pathetically tried to cover, but it seemed he said enough because the cafeteria erupted into more cheers and people turned away from him.

            He slowly stood, willing his legs to move and his eyes to see straight. Depositing his uneaten lunch in the trash, he made his was back to his room. 'Heero'scapturedHeero'scapturedHeero'scapturedHeero'scapturedHeero'scaptured Heero'scaptured,' just kept running through his mind as he finally reached his door, but it took him three tries to get the key out of his pocket and two more to unlock the door. 

            When he opened the door, he was startled to find Wufei sitting on his bed. "How did you…when did you…forget it. What do we do?" Duo starred at Wufei, pleading for an answer.

            "Nothing," Wufei answered. "We do absolutely nothing until we hear otherwise. We cannot risk blowing our cover by suddenly disappearing." Wufei scowled at Duo. "Which is another thing, Maxwell. You need to learn to better control your emotion. Your thoughtless outburst could have cost us much more than an odd look."

            Duo's face began to grow red. He didn't need to be reprimanded. "I've got my emotions perfectly in check, Chang. Please forgive me for being upset about the plight of our comrades. It was totally uncalled for." The sarcasm was so think in Duo's voice that he wanted to check to be sure it hadn't solidified. 

            Wufei was taken aback. He hadn't been prepared for the sting in Duo's reply. "Listen Maxwell, there is no need for you to become upset with me. This was not my doing." He starred at Duo, trying to keep his anger under control.

            Both boys jumped suddenly; startled by the beeping of Heero's laptop telling them they had an incoming mission.

            Duo leapt across the room, knocking Wufei away in his race to get to the desk. He slammed himself into the chair and wrenched open the computer, quickly punching in the code for his mailbox. There it was, the letter sent by Professor G. Duo opened it and read what was written as his face contorted into an ugly mask of anger. He pushed himself away from the desk, allowing Wufei to read the mission parameters. His eyes skimmed over the letter as he read it out loud.

            "02 and 05 are to leave for the OZ base immediately. Once there, they must finish the mission left undone by 01, 03, and 04. Then deal with the other pilots. Do not attempt to rescue more than one pilot. Should you be captured, silence yourselves."

            Wufei backed up, disgusted. He could not believe what he had just read. How were he and Duo supposed to decide which of their friends lived or died? He glanced over at Duo, seeing him lying face down on his bed.

            "What do we do, Wu?" he asked, his voice sounding like a little child lost in the woods.

            "I don't know," Wufei said as he sat on Heero's bed across from Duo. How could they have all made such a mess of things? He hung his head in frustration. They couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

            Wufei stood up, kicking the bed Duo was laying on. "Get up," he commanded. "We have a mission to do."

            Duo stared at Wufei, open-mouthed. What was he thinking? How could he go through with a mission like this, if you could even call it that? Duo himself thought of it more as a murder.

            "Don't stare at me like that, Maxwell. I just don't think we should keep our comrade's waiting at an OZ base while we fight with our inner morals. We're going to have a hard enough time escaping with three hostages. If we go now, we'll be able to have the surprise of a night attack."

            Duo glanced up. Had Wufei said three hostages? Duo could hardly believe his ears. Wufei wasn't one to easily turn against mission orders. That is, unless it went against his sense of justice. He smiled to himself. Leave it to Wufei to do something like this.

            Leaping off the bed, Duo made a grab for the door handle. "I'll get ready here. You go back to your room and we'll meet in the woods in half an hour." 

            "Wait, Duo," Wufei said, trying to calm the boy. "We need a plan first. We can't just run in, guns drawn, and start shooting everybody in sight." Sighing, he continued. "You're going to have to go in Deathsythe."

            Duo nodded, mentally kicking himself for his ambition. They needed a plan before they barged into a fully operational OZ base. It wouldn't do the other guys any good if he and Wufei were also captured. 

            "You're right," Duo said, formulating a plan in his mind. "They already know what I look like, and it would be too dangerous for me to go back in. I'll create the diversion, drawing most of the soldiers to their suits. You run in and grab the guys." Heading for the desk, Duo rummaged around in the drawer, finding the layout of the base he had gotten from the file tap.

            "Take this," Duo added as he thrust the map at Wufei. "As you can see, there are prisoner holding cells in three different wings, and chances are they are going to have one in each. Once you get someone out, have him go to one wing while you go to another, to speed things up."

            "Gotcha," Wufei said as he made his way to the door. "I'll see you in half an hour." Nodding, Duo shut the door and turned around to lean on it. 

            The full weight of what they were going to do came crashing down on him. Wufei was going to walk into one of the most heavily guarded bases they had ever encountered and come out with three prisoners while Duo single handedly fought off a horde of mobile suits that had already taken down three Gundams. A nervous laughter started to swell in his throat and Duo knew that if he started laughing he would be able to stop. 

            A pounding on the door startled Duo out of his thoughts, causing him to leap forward. Reaching down, he opened the door and found himself staring into Wufei's onyx eyes.

            "There's been a change in plans," Wufei said as he grabbed Duo's arm and began to force him out of the room. "There's something you should see." 

            "Wufei, what happened? Did something happen at the base? Where are we going? We don't have that much time and…" Duo broke off his sentence as Wufei stopped in front of his own room and opened the door. 

            Sitting on the bed, looking a little haggard but none the worse for wear, was Quatre. Running into the room, Duo seized his friend, giving him a bone-crushing hug.

            "It's good to see you too, Duo, but this hurts. Could you let go a little?" Quatre laughed as his friend's enthusiastic greeting. He winced as Duo ruffled his hair.

            "What's wrong, Quatre?" Duo asked, instantly concerned.

            "Oh, it's nothing," Quatre replied. "I just hit my head on the console when Sandrock went down. It's not serious." Quatre reached up and pulled back his corn straw bangs. Underneath was a cut that ran from just above his right eye to the hairline by his right temple. The cut was shallow, only bleeding a little now. 

            "We need to get that dressed," Wufei said, grabbing his first aid kit from under his bed. Putting some rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball, he swiftly cleaned the wound, killing any infection that might have accumulated.

            "What happened out there, Quatre?" Duo asked, suddenly becoming somber.

            Seeing the pain in his friend's eyes, Quatre sighed. He didn't have good news. "Just how much do you guys know?" he asked, not wanting to have to tell them things they already knew.

            "We hardly know anything at all. The principle came on over the intercom and told us the base had been attacked and that you guys had been having a rough time of it." Wufei stopped as he saw Quatre's eyes darkening. Continuing, he said, "He told us that Trowa went down first, after sustaining massive damage. Then, after taking three simultaneous beam hits, Sandrock went down. Finally, Heero went down in the ambush," Wufei looked at Duo for conformation.

            "Yeah," Duo piped in. "They said that the pilots were captured and were going to be executed after they were questioned."

            Quatre was silent for several moments, running everything over in his mind. Just as Duo and Wufei had begun to worry, he spoke. "We were terribly outnumbered, and the suits were strong. Too strong. Heero was the first one to figure out that a hit to the back of the neck took them out. Once we figured that out, things started to look up. Trowa and I each got a few kills in, but mainly it was a slash and run fight. Once a suit was down, we didn't worry about it after that. That was Trowa's mistake." Quatre gulped, like he was just now trying to swallow the news, and went on. "A suit we had thought was down latched on to Heavyarms while he was fighting. In an attempt to bring it down, the pilot self-detonated and ripped off the gundam's left leg. It was like a moral booster for the OZ troops, because after that they came at us with a vengeance.

            "Heero and I tried as best we could, but three shots, one to the head and two to the back, were all Sandrock could take. The communications link was the first thing to short out, so I wasn't able to tell Heero I was okay, or ask him what was going on.

            "I knew that it would be bad news if we were captured. Seeing Wing Zero go down, I started to analyze my options. Just as I was contemplating self-destruction, I remembered my escape hatch." He looked up, knowing he was getting odd looks from Duo and Wufei. 

            He sighed again. "Back when Sandrock was being built, the Maguanacs were very concerned with my safety. Before it was finished, they asked the scientist* to install an escape hatch that exited form the back, just to add one more option other than self-detonation. I'm the only one who had one and I've never used it before now. Frankly, I greatly dislike even the thought of it. It feels like cheating." Hanging his head, he thought of his friends, captured because they weren't coddled like he was.

            Duo squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Hey," he said. "If it wasn't for that escape hatch, you would be in one of those OZ prisons right now. Instead, you're here with us. I don't think that's such a bad thing."

            Looking up at Duo, Quatre saw the wisdom in his friend's words. He just hated the fact that he was pampered because of his status.

            "Anyway," Quatre said, wading through the uncomfortable silence that had befallen the room, "I managed to get out of Sandrock and made my way to the woods surrounding the base. I spotted a path and followed it, hoping I'd eventually come to the highway. But what I found was even better. Chained to a tree was an all black motorcycle with a helmet slung over the handle bars with "Shinigami" written across the front." 

            "My baby!" Duo raced to the window, peered out, and started jumping up and down. "You found my baby! I had hoped those damn OZ bastards hadn't tried to use her. That would have been an insult to her honor." Duo stared out lovingly at his bike.

            "Yeah," Quatre said. "I'm just glad you gave me a spare key. It would have been a bitch to hotwire. But yeah, that's how I got here." 

            "OZ obviously knows you've escaped, but they probably don't want the public to know they messed up," Wufei muttered. "Well, this makes things a whole lot easier. Now it's two rescuing two instead of one rescuing three."

            "What about Duo?" the blonde boy wondered. Surely Duo could have helped with the rescue somehow.

            "Distraction," Duo clarified. "They already know my face. Too risky for me to go back inside. Deathsythe and me get to have some fun with the mobile suits." Giggling nervously, Duo saw Quatre's face go a shade paler. "Come on, Q. I'll be fine. I'm Shinigami! They can't take down the God of Death." He realized that his words sounded forced and that his voice quivered ever so slightly. He hated getting nervous, especially at a time like this, when a cool head was so important.

            "Why don't you come help me get ready for this mission and I can fill you in on the fighting techniques and styles of the mobile suits?" suggested Quatre, wanting a chance to calm the obviously frightened American.

            "Yeah, sure, sounds great," Duo said half-heartedly. "You gonna be okay by yourself, Wu?" he asked, not wanting to be rude.

            "Yes, Duo. I will be fine. Why don't we meet at your truck in forty-five minutes?" They all agreed and parted ways, to begin preparing for one of their most important, and dangerous, missions yet. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*I can't actually remember Quatre's scientist's name for the life of me, and I was _waaayyyy_ to lazy to look it up. So yeah. Sorry bout that. 

I'm also really sorry about how long this chapter took. I had, like, the WORST case of writers block ever! I didn't mean for this to take so long. The next one should be up much, much quicker. *maybe ^_^;; * Oh yeah, and REVIEW! If you took the time to read it, what's another 2 minutes to type up your feelings on it? It'll mean a lot to me! Really! Please? HEY! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?? GET BACK HERE! 


	4. IV

***peeks out* Hi there! *ducks thrown objects* I'm sorry!! I know it took a long time, but…but…absence makes the heart grow fonder! Wait…..that doesn't work…Never mind. Just be content with the fact that I have another chapter up! So go and read! And then review! And make the world a better place! GO! **

**Little author's note: I don't think that I ever mentioned whether I was using the original Deathscythe or Deathscythe Hell. I guess I just kind of figured that you guys would figure out that if there is Altlong, there's Deathscythe Hell, but I just thought I'd set the record straight that I _am_ using Deathscythe Hell. ^_^ Sorry for any confusion!**

            The sweat drop rolled its way down his forehead and between his eyes. Reaching the tip of his nose, it clung desperately to his skin before taking the final plunge and splattering on his hand below. 

            "Geez it's hot in here," Duo complained as he wiped his hand on his pant leg. The three of them were piled into the OZ truck with Wufei driving, Quatre riding shotgun, and Duo sprawled out in the back seat. Since he had been kind of out of it the first time he rode in it, Duo didn't realize that the truck had no air conditioning and the bright spring sun was beating down on all of them through the windows. 

            They were on their way to the lake Duo had submerged his Gundam in, before heading over to the base. Quatre and Wufei would wait for Duo's signal and then quietly make their way inside. Hopefully all of the guards would be too distracted by the Gundam to notice a few extra people around. 

            Quatre had repaired the holes and washed the blood out of the uniform Duo had worn and was dressed in it as the rode to the lake. He was supposed to lock Wufei in handcuffs and take him into the base as a "trespasser." He hoped that the scheme would fool the few soldiers that would remain behind long enough for them to knock them out and steal their guns. Then he and Wufei would split up from there.

            "Maybe," Wufei growled, "if you wore something other than black long pants and _two_ shirts, you would be cooler." Duo had been complaining about the heat for half an hour now and Wufei was about to snap. 

            "Nah, it's not the clothes." Duo stretched out, sending a surprisingly strong jolt of pain through his left shoulder. He hissed as the newly forming skin and muscle yelled in protest of the jostling. 

            Quatre was turned around in a flash, checking on his still wounded comrade. "Why are we letting you do this?" Quatre cried frustrated beyond the breaking point. "These suits took down THREE Gundams! How can we expect an already injured pilot to hold off an entire base? This whole idea is ludicrous!" He reached up to run his hands through his hair. "I know I shouldn't be so negative, but how can we ask you to do this? There's got to be something else you can do. Let me pilot Deathsythe. I know how these things fight. I'll take them on."

            Duo stared into the eyes of one of his closest friends. He understood Quatre's emotional struggle. He was pretty sure he was not going to make it out of this battle, and he would feel the same way if he thought he was sending one of his best friends off to die. But that didn't change the circumstances. 

            "Quatre," Duo said, looking at him, his eyes full of understanding. "You and I both know that, no matter how bad I do in the Gundam, I'd do worse inside the base. Every officer in that place probably had my face memorized. There's no way I'd get within 1000 yards of those prison cells. You and Wufei need to get the guys out. I need to create your distraction. That's all there is to it. Besides," Duo added, his characteristically light nature showing itself again, "you guys got to have all the fun earlier. It's my turn to blow some stuff up." He smiled at Quatre as the other boy's eyes, already filled with worry, took on some measure of understanding. Quatre would be just fine. He was a pilot and he knew what he had to do.

            Wufei sat in the front, driving the car and trying to stay out of the conversation. This emotional type of interaction was not something that came naturally to him. He knew that they were probably sending Duo off to die, just as he knew there was a very slim chance that he would make it out alive with his hostage. But it was a chance they all took. 

            Glancing over at Quatre, he saw that the boy was still rather upset, despite Duo's semi-reassuring words. He knew that if anything happened to Duo, Quatre would blame himself. He blamed himself for everything. However, if they were forced to sacrifice one life to save two more, so be it. Wufei knew that the thought was a terrible one, and he hated himself for having it, but it was the cool logic that had been drilled into his head since he became a Gundam pilot. Always fight for the greater good. And that was exactly what Duo was doing. He admired the American pilot.

            Their path suddenly left the clear, asphalt road as they headed down a dirt and gravel road off to the side. The sun filtered through the trees, casting constantly changing shadow designs on the three pilots as their truck ambled through the underbrush.

            They soon found themselves on the edge of a large, shimmering lake, its icy blue water shining crystal clear under the sun. Duo leapt from the car, sliding a small remote control out of his pocket. There was a large red button in the middle of the control with Duo promptly pushed. The water started to shake and ripples appeared, followed by waves which crashed upon the shore as the giant form of Deathscythe Hell emerged from the watery depths of the lake. 

            Quatre gave Duo one last pleading look. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I can always take your place."

            Duo just laughed, putting his hand on Quatre's shoulder. "You always were the persistent one. Not used to not getting your way? That's what you get for being brought up a rich kid." He reached up to ruffle Quatre's hair, smiling at the blonde's distress. "Quatre, you can't be out on the battle field. You have to go into that base and be Trowa's knight in shinning armor! I don't think he'd be as happy with me." Duo just laughed as Quatre's face took on an amazingly bright shade of red. 

            Wufei came over to the two after allowing them to say their goodbyes. "Well," he said, looking Duo in the eye, "guess it's time for you to go, Maxwell." Wufei crossed his arms in front of his chest, as if about to say something he was uncomfortable with. "Just, don't play the hero out there. If things get too tough, back out. Quatre and I can take care of ourselves. We're not injured already."

            Duo just stared at Wufei in shock. "Are you…are you trying to tell me to be careful? Does this mean you actually are _worried_ about me? Why Wu! I didn't know you cared!" Duo, smiling from ear to ear, punched Wufei in the arm lightly to show the other boy he was teasing. 

            Wufei just cleared his throat and continued on. "We'll each have our com units turned on. If anything goes wrong, just tell us and then get yourself out. We'll be on channel 2." He held up his com unit, making a show of switching it to the correct channel.

            "Just get out of here already," Duo said, shoving them both toward the car. "You still have quite a ways to drive and we want to try to get there sometime today." 

             Wufei turned go to go the car, but Quatre hung back. He looked at Duo and hugged him before following Wufei over to the truck. 

            Crossing over to the side where the hulking machine had finally stopped it emergence from the water, Duo leapt up into the waiting hand of his Gundam. 

            "Alright. I'll see you guys there! Don't forget the signal. It'll let you know when to begin. Good luck!" And with that, Duo grabbed the cable that hoisted him into the cockpit of the large fighting machine.  

            Once he was finally inside the Gundam, Duo wasn't sure if he felt calmer, or more nervous than ever. The familiarity of Deathscythe's cockpit had always soothed him, but now the close quarters were making him feel just the slightest bit claustrophobic. He also had a very strong desire to blow something up. But he'd be getting to do that soon enough. Or, at least he'd get to attempt to.

            'No!' he thought to himself. 'I can't be that way! If I got into a battle like this with a bad attitude, I might never make it out!' That same cruel voice told him that he might never make it out anyway, but he tried his best to ignore it. 

            He started up the Gundam, knowing that he had to make decent time to get there in time to empty the base for Wufei and Quatre. He started up the cloaking device and started to make his was to the base.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            Silence had taken over the truck as Wufei and Quatre resumed the drive to the base. Quatre, periodically wiping his continuously sweaty hands on his pants, reached over to flip on the air conditioning. The unit sputtered, desperately trying to pump out cool air in the constant inferno. After several seconds of pathetic attempts at cool air, Quatre finally gave up and turned it back off. 

            They finally approached the dirt road that led turned into the path that Duo had used to get to the base. It kept them off the main road and pretty much out of sight, making their trip slightly less nerve wracking. If they were caught now, then it was game over. 

            Wufei directed the truck through a space between two trees which opened into the beautiful alcove Duo had used to keep his motorcycle in. Allowing the engine to idle for a few moments, the boys took some time to collect their thoughts before they officially began. 

            Reaching over and unbuckling his seatbelt, Quatre exited the truck just as Wufei turned off the engine. His feet moved noiselessly over the green grass as he moved to the back of the truck to get his supplies out of the trunk. Opening the hatch, he fitted himself with three guns, extra ammo, and a grenade or two, incase of dire situations. 

            Wufei, coming up behind him, carefully stashed two guns in his shirt, a knife in his boot, and extra ammo in whatever nooks and crannies it would fit in. He had to make sure to not have any lumps in his clothes though, or the OZ officials that Quatre might walk him past would get suspicious. 

            "You ready?" Quatre asked Wufei, looking him in the eye. 

            Wufei closed his eyes, taking one final deep, calming breath. "Yes. Let's get this over with as soon as possible." 

            Quatre nodded, understanding his urge for speed, and slowly led the way to the edge of the alcove, to await Duo's signal.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            The base slowly came into view as Duo lumbered up in Deathscythe, the Gundam giving off a menacing glare in the afternoon sun. Its bright green eyes stared out at the OZ facility, watching and waiting for a chance to strike. The twin tipped thermal scythe crackled with energy, ready to slice open anything in reach.

            Duo wiped the sweat out of his eyes and off of his forehead. The temperature inside the cockpit was made even more unbearable by the nervousness Duo was feeling. His heart was beating twice its normal speed and his blood was roaring in his ears. Nervous was an understatement. Duo was scared out of his mind. 

            He reached the top of the hill that sat across from the base, deciding this was the best place to start the fighting. 'Well,' he thought to himself, settling into his fighting mind frame, 'let's get this started.'

            Without any warning, Duo unleashed a barrage of bullets from Deathscythe's guns, sending the hammer drill into the part of the base he knew was the mobile suit holding area. Something, presumably one of the mobile suits inside, exploded with a satisfying bang, unleashing a pillar of black smoke and orange flames that licked at the rubble. 

            Like ants spilling from a kicked over hill, OZ soldiers began running around the ruins, searching madly for the source of the attack. Green eyes flashing, Duo stood on top of the hill, showering the suits and soldiers alike with all the bullets he had. 

            Movement from the ruined hanger caught his eye as the first of the mobile suits came out to face him. Taking an attack position, Duo readied himself for the coming onslaught. 

            The suits systematically formed a line in front of the base, creating a barrier between him and it. They were an awesome sight, their shields radiating energy all around them, giving the air an electric hum. One suit, painted a bright blue as opposed to the grey-whites of the others, stood in front of the wall of Gemini's, almost waiting for Duo to attack. 

            'Pretty cocky guys they have working at OZ now,' Duo thought, just as a communications line was sent to him. It was from the pilot of the leader suit.

            "We have you drastically outnumbered. You can either surrender to us now and join your comrades, or you can fight me, and join them when you lose. Either way, you are not leaving this battle field." The line was closed after that, not allowing Duo time to verbally respond.

            "Please," Duo said to himself. "Like a Gundam pilot would ever just surrender."  He resumed his attack position, thermal scythe raised high and ready to strike. 

            The leader Gemini almost seemed to nod at him, acknowledging his challenge, before hurling himself across the field. The battle was on.

            Grabbing a laser beam from a shoulder nook, much like Wing Gundam's, the Gemini slashed at Deathscythe's right shoulder, hoping to disarm him with a single blow. Using the scythe, Duo easily deflected the blow, pushing the suit back, scraping up dirt and grass. 

            Without warning, the Gemini launched it's shield generators* at Duo in an attempt to distract him from the beam saber. Using the scythe like a bat, Duo swung at the disks, sending them flying, but not quick enough to come back and deflect the slice the beam saber made to his left leg. 

            Duo raised the scythe, bringing it down in an arc to cut the suit in half, but he pilot was too fast. He jumped back, leaving a charred trail across the front of the Gemini, but no real damage anywhere else. Cursing his bad luck, Duo backed up from the suit, wanting to assess the situation before running to anything rash. He needed to buy the guys as much time as possible. He tried to remember exactly what Quatre had told him about the suits. Everything so far seemed to be perfectly accurate: amazing speed, strong beam saber, shields like Virgos. If that stuff was right, then the  information about the weak point being at the back of the neck had to be right too. Duo thought that he was beginning to come up with a plan.

            Allowing the Gemini to make the next move, Duo took a defensive stance, scythe raised to  chest level to make it easier to block attacks. Checking his watch, he wondered if the guys had gotten in all right and where they were right now.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

            "You need to look more ruffled!" Quatre said quietly for the third time. He and Wufei were nearing the base, but he thought Wufei looked more like an honored guest than a captured prisoner. His hair was still neat and he'd only let Quatre rub a minute amount of dirt into his clothes. They were coming close to the edge of the tree line, so, in a desperate attempt to make his disguise more believable, Quatre reached up to the top of Wufei's head, and ruffled his hair; pulling some out of the ponytail and making it stick out at odd angles.

            Wufei's eyes lit up like a Gundam's, his outrage at this sudden un-Quatre like behavior evident. He shot the young boy a death glare just as they exited the tree line, putting Wufei just a little bit more into character. 

            Quatre shoved him toward the base, holding his handcuffed wrists behind his back, and causing him to stumble a little. He could see the black smoke rising from the mobile suit hanger, but he couldn't hear any obvious signs of a big battle. This caused him to worry even more as they approached the gate that guarded the facility from the outside world. 

            Putting on his best proud-soldier face, Quatre approached the guards, pushing Wufei along in front of him.

            "Found this one out in the woods on my way in. I think he may be a friend of the one causing so much ruckus over by the hanger." Quatre's hands were sweaty, and sweat poured down his back in rivers. It was all he could do to keep himself calm.

            The soldiers stood there flabbergasted, not quite comprehending what Quatre was telling them. "Didn't you guys here what I said? I think commander Treize would probably like to see him, don't' you?" The mentioning of Treize's name snapped the soldiers out of whatever amazed stupor they had been in, and allowed them to find their voiced.

            "Of…of course!" The first soldier said. "Take him to the detention facilities in the west wing, right away. Then alert commander Treize." Saluting to Quatre, the soldiers opened the gate and allowed him to pass into the base. 

            Walking through the gate, Quatre let go of the breath he'd been holding. They'd done it! They were inside the base. Now all they had to do was find the guys and get out. Easier said than done. 

            Finding an empty conference room, Quatre quickly slipped inside, pulling Wufei after him. "Okay," the blonde said as he undid the handcuffs on Wufei's wrists. "If they wanted me to take you to the west wing, that must mean that is the empty one. Why don't I head toward the east wing, and you take the north wing. Does that work?"

            Wufei nodded, glaring at Quatre as he reached up to fix his hair. "That sounds like a reasonable deduction to me. I will keep my com device on, as will you, and we will coordinate where to meet after we have the others." 

            Quatre held out his hand to Wufei, a look of sadness in his eyes. "See you in a few, right?" 

            Wufei stared at Quatre's hand for only a moment, before firmly taking it in his. "Of course. In a few." They both quietly slipped from the conference room, each headed in different directions, hoping this wouldn't be the last time they saw each other. 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Well, the fight is on! ^_^ Our boys are in position, but will they emerge victorious? Stay tuned for the next installment of "Turn of the Tides"!! 

….okay. Sorry about the random T.V. announcer moment. ^_^;; got a little carried away. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And in only three months and two days! ^_^;; but there are some new fics on the page that should have kept you satisfied for a least a little while. And please, now that you've read it, it would be awesome if you would review!! Go! Go push that little "Go" button next to "Submit Review." You know you wanna tell me how much you loved it. Go!!

~Queen Vixen 

P.S.- due to the unfortunate "events" of yesterday (the website _refusing_ to work) I was unable to post this on one of my best friend's 18th birthday!!! *pout* but since it's only a day late, it would be wonderful if you could all wish her a happy birthday in your reviews! Thank you! And Happy Birthday Libby!!!


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